Kalk and pH

[Dan Reef]

Hello all,

I'm using kalkwasser with the purpose of raising the pH. I dose both kalkwasser and all-for-reef to keep the alk/Ca stable.

I dose kalk at night for a period of 12 hours (35ml/ hour) but I'm almost at the evaporation limit already. pH is still dropping to 7.8 at night..

I'm wondering if I start to dose kalkwasser during the day (where the pH reaches 8.3), will this help the pH not to drop so much during the night? In this case I'll have to adjust the all-for-reef dosage to keep the alk stable.

Thanks

 

[Doctorgori]

personally I’d dose 24/7

 

[Garf]

Hello all,

I'm using kalkwasser with the purpose of raising the pH. I dose both kalkwasser and all-for-reef to keep the alk/Ca stable.

I dose kalk at night for a period of 12 hours (35ml/ hour) but I'm almost at the evaporation limit already. pH is still dropping to 7.8 at night..

I'm wondering if I start to dose kalkwasser during the day (where the pH reaches 8.3), will this help the pH not to drop so much during the night? In this case I'll have to adjust the all-for-reef dosage to keep the alk stable.

Thanks

Have you not got a skimmer? Or refugium? 0.5pH is quite a large swing with dosing only at night. What is your Alkalinity at?

 

[rmurken]

+1 for skimmer and/or refugium (or just some way to grow chaeto on a reverse photoperiod); +1 for dosing kalk around the clock.

If your overnight kalk dosing is already at or close to your 24-hour evaporation, I’d switch to soda ash/CaCl during the day. You could also do kalk/soda ash at appropriate doses around the clock if the skimmer/chaeto help even things out.

If you rely on the carbon in all for reef for nutrient control, you’d need to pay particular attention to that. Otherwise, plenty of other ways to supply the stuff all-for-reef provides

 

[Dan Reef]

Hello,

Have you not got a skimmer? Or refugium? 0.5pH is quite a large swing with dosing only at night. What is your Alkalinity at?

I have a skimmer but no refugium. I agree it's quite large! I recalibrated the pH probe recently to make sure it's ok. The probe is old but seems to be working fine. Alk is at 5.8 measured today with Hanna. (3 days ago it was 7.0! I’ll definitely increase)

+1 for skimmer and/or refugium (or just some way to grow chaeto on a reverse photoperiod); +1 for dosing kalk around the clock.

If your overnight kalk dosing is already at or close to your 24-hour evaporation, I’d switch to soda ash/CaCl during the day. You could also do kalk/soda ash at appropriate doses around the clock if the skimmer/chaeto help even things out.

If you rely on the carbon in all for reef for nutrient control, you’d need to pay particular attention to that. Otherwise, plenty of other ways to supply the stuff all-for-reef provides

The kalk dosing is close to the 12 hours evaporation. I currently dose kalk from 6:00pm to 6:00am @35ml/hour. I was wondering if dosing also from 6:00 am to 6:00pm would be of any help to keep the pH more stable at night. By doing that I'd increase the daily dosage to 960ml/day of saturated kalk/ day for a 25 gallon tank (estimated 20 gallon water).

If I go this route I'll have to decrease the All-For-Reef daily dosage to keep the alk stable.

I don't have room for a refugium unfortunately!

I like All For Reef because it really keep parameters stable and required only one dosing pump.

Thanks!

 

[Garf]

Hello,


I have a skimmer but no refugium. I agree it's quite large! I recalibrated the pH probe recently to make sure it's ok. The probe is old but seems to be working fine. Alk is at 5.8 measured today with Hanna. (3 days ago it was 7.0! I’ll definitely increase)


The kalk dosing is close to the 12 hours evaporation. I currently dose kalk from 6:00pm to 6:00am @35ml/hour. I was wondering if dosing also from 6:00 am to 6:00pm would be of any help to keep the pH more stable at night. By doing that I'd increase the daily dosage to 960ml/day of saturated kalk/ day for a 25 gallon tank (estimated 20 gallon water).

If I go this route I'll have to decrease the All-For-Reef daily dosage to keep the alk stable.

I don't have room for a refugium unfortunately!

I like All For Reef because it really keep parameters stable and required only one dosing pump.

Thanks!

Slowly increasing the ALK should minimise the pH swing. Then you can assess if it is too low or not.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Hello all,

I'm using kalkwasser with the purpose of raising the pH. I dose both kalkwasser and all-for-reef to keep the alk/Ca stable.

I dose kalk at night for a period of 12 hours (35ml/ hour) but I'm almost at the evaporation limit already. pH is still dropping to 7.8 at night..

I'm wondering if I start to dose kalkwasser during the day (where the pH reaches 8.3), will this help the pH not to drop so much during the night? In this case I'll have to adjust the all-for-reef dosage to keep the alk stable.

Thanks

If you are currently dosing near the evaporation limit, dosing some of it during the day and not at night may be beneficial for alk stability, but will allow the nightly tank pH to drop more.

If you want to raise the nightly pH low, and fresh air or a CO2 scrubber are not good options for you, then if there is any alkalintiy left to dose each day, it can also be hydroxide using a very high pH two part.

 

[tapeworm123]

In my experience hanna alk checker doesn’t work with kalk. The alk reading is way off let me know if this is your experience too.

 

[rmurken]

In my experience hanna alk checker doesn’t work with kalk. The alk reading is way off let me know if this is your experience too.

I have not had that problem.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

In my experience hanna alk checker doesn’t work with kalk. The alk reading is way off let me know if this is your experience too.

No, that cannot be correct, unless you mean to measure the alkalinity of kalkwasser itself outside of an aquarium.

Once in the aquarium, the alkalinity is comprised of bicarbonate and carbonate just like any other aquarium at that pH.

 

[blasterman]

Run kalk 24/7.

However, you will often run into the evap wall. This isn't a big deal if you are just using kalk as a top off buffer only and supplementing calcium and alk with other sources. However, if kalk is your main source of calcium/alk you will hit a wall in the form of precipitation.

You can increase tank evap by pointing a house fan at it.